Roswitha von Gandersheim

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona); Eva Parra- Membrives (Universidad de Sevilla); Alfonso Corbacho Sanchez (Universidad de Extremadura)
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Roswitha von Gandersheim (ca. 930/35-ca. 9753/1002) is considered to be the first German woman to have composed literary texts. She was a German canoness writing in Latin addressing her convent sisters, but she also enjoyed considerable respect for her work in other Benedictine convents in Germany. The discovery of her long-forgotten works in 1493 by the humanist scholar and poet laureate Conrad Celtis (1459-1508) had a considerable impact on the nationalist-minded Humanist circles of the era, especially on account of Roswitha's great productivity and creative abilities. This discovery finally seemed to prove that the history of German culture had been unfairly neglected by the admirers of classical Italian and Greek culture. Albrecht Dürer created woodcuts for Celtis's 1551 edition of…

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Citation: Classen, Albrecht, Eva Parra- Membrives, Alfonso Corbacho Sanchez. "Roswitha von Gandersheim". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5891, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5891 Roswitha von Gandersheim 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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